An Act of Kindness
by VTPM
Summary: Kakuzu turned and started walking again, remaining silent for a while before asking, "You know they're going to die, right?" Hidan glanced over his shoulder, though the kids were out of sight. "...Yeah, I know." But they would not die that day, nor for many days to come, and neither were to forget that act of kindness, even if it was only carried out in pity.


The day was a dreary, cloudy one, but very fitting for the small village the two Akatsuki members were passing through. Not only was the desolate town in the middle of a war-torn area, it had been robbed and plundered by soldiers until it was even more destitute than it had started off as. A majority of the buildings were half crumbled, and some were even burned to the ground, and the ones that still stood were not undamaged; whether it was a missing door, broken windows, or a hole in the roof, there was always at least one visible sign of theft and destruction.

You'd think with the run down look of the place, it's be uninhabited, but that was far from true. Merchants were set up along the main street, getting away with robbing the poor people in their own way of the last of their money, selling the oh-so precious foods and clean water that was necessary for survival at much higher prices than any other village. It was a dirty, cruel business.

There was also gangs that had began forming on the sidewalks and in back alleys, the civilization quickly crumbling into an animalistic need for survival, just as humans would in such a broken existence. They consisted of groups of civilians of various numbers and ages, from little orphaned children to the elders. The two extremes mostly stayed hidden in abandoned houses or dark alleys, while the more fit adults stalked the streets with weapons in hand, ready to do whatever was necessary for their own well being.

Kakuzu paid no mind to the glares and stares they received as they passed through the town, nor to the merchants calling out eagerly to sell their overpriced wares and make a living off the village's dying and desperate inhabitants. Hidan, on the other hand, returned any attention turned to them with a glare of his own. The civilians seemed to take the hint and didn't dare get close enough to try and rob them of their supplies. Their hostile air rivaled that of the town's itself, and the menacing bearing they carried was enough to let the villagers know to back down. The merchants, on the other hand, didn't seem to get the idea and continued trying to draw their attention in hopes of striking gold in the foreigners, even though neither of them showed even remote interest.

 _Always with the damned money in this world_... Hidan thought, scowling in annoyance when he saw the price of some of the fruits went as high as 500 ryo.

"This is ridiculous, seriously." Hidan muttered to the taller shinobi, crossing his arms.

"What do expect? There's always some business that makes money off others' tragedies." Kakuzu replied, not breaking pace. It was getting dark out and he hoped to be out of this forlorn place before they had to take shelter for the night.

The priest shook his head. "Those greedy fuckers... Man, and I thought you were bad about money, but this... _This_ is just _sick_..."  
Kakuzu didn't bother responding, already wary enough of all the attention they were drawing from everyone on the street, and he didn't want to encourage his comrade's ranting. His loud and disrespectfully speaking habits were likely to spark someone's anger and Kakuzu wasn't in the mood to clean up any mess Hidan got himself into.

Hidan seemed to pick up on his silence and kept his mouth shut.

After about 5 minutes of walking however, he found his attention drawn to one of the merchant stands. Not for their wares, but for the two kids who were looking at the seller pleadingly.

"Please sir, could you spare just a little..?" One of them begged. He looked no older than 5 or perhaps 6. In his malnourished state, it was difficult to judge.

The man just sneered down at them cruelly. "I'm not givin' you brats anythin' unless yer buyin'." He replied, having a bit of an accent Hidan wasn't very familiar with.

The zealot found himself clenching his fists in anger. Even if he followed what was considered an immoral religion and was an S-rank criminal, he still had places where he drew the line. Children weren't old enough to commit sins against Jashin and were therefore innocent and still capable of finding God's light. To murder the innocent was a sin to Jashin, and the fact this merchant was denying these war orphans food for the sake of making some cash was completely despicable. He already disagreed with Kakuzu's acts of exchanging one's life for money, but the people he hunted were always adults and usually had committed some sin or other of their own, which made Hidan a lot less sympathetic. Plus a good deal of the time, he allowed Hidan to uses his ritual on them, so at least their lives were far from going to waste. Their heads funded their travels and the souls went to Jashin. It all balanced out.

Hidan glanced over at Kakuzu and noticed he had kept walking, not noticing that his partner had stopped to watch the scene in front of him. Just as the two boys were about to trudge away from the food stand, Hidan stepped forward and gave the man a death glare.

"Give them some food, you bastard." Hidan demanded.

The merchant didn't seem as fazed as he should have been. "I don't give free hand outs."

Hidan had to resist the urge to kill him, knowing Kakuzu would never let him hear the end of it. Muttering curses under his breath, he dug out some money from his pocket and gave it to the man.

Smirking in satisfaction, the merchant accepted the cash and threw some bread and fish into a basket before pushing it toward Hidan.

If there was one thing the silver haired man had learned from Kakuzu, it was how to spot a cheat.

"Whoa, hold up a moment. 700 ryo buys me more than that, and we both know it."

The man looked mildly angered at being called out on his attempt to swindle him but relented and added a bit more food to the basket until Hidan looked less furious.

"Thanks for the business..." Hidan muttered sarcastically and snatched the basket, then turned and handed it to the little kids. "Here.. Enjoy it, alright?"

The two boys just stared in disbelief for a moment before the one who'd spoke earlier hesitantly accepted it from him. "Th-Thank you, mister..."

He nodded in response and offered them one of his rare smiles. He usually didn't feel pity or sympathy for others, but this hell hole seemed bad enough that it was fitting.

Some of the ever-present depression, despair, and fear seemed to disappear from their faces and the one boy returned the smile with what seemed to be genuine happiness.

It was Hidan's turn to be surprised. How could this little kid be _smiling_ while in such a situation? Even with the food, he was still living in a war devastated area, half starved to death, no money, no parents... It all seemed so hopeless for him to survive in. Yet he had it in him to smile at such a meaningless act of kindness that this stranger had had the _pity_ to give.

Feeling oddly disturbed, shocked, and _elated_ , Hidan turned away and quickened his pace to catch up with Kakuzu who had stopped to wait for him upon realizing his partner hadn't been behind him any longer.

Kakuzu turned and started walking again, remaining silent for a while before asking, "You know they're going to die, right?"

Hidan glanced over his shoulder, though the kids were out of sight. "...Yeah, I know."

"Then why waste you time and money on them?"

The look of pure happiness on the boy's face and the honest smile he'd managed in such chaotic times was a miracle in itself, and the fact that it had been aimed at _him_ of all people had left him very confused. He'd never been smiled at so purely before, and he honestly had no idea how to react.

"...I don't know."

Kakuzu made a noise of disapproval and glanced up at the quickly darkening sky. "It looks like we'll be stuck here for the night after all."

* * *

It didn't take them very long to come across a motel to spend the night in, but upon arriving at the room they'd rented, the prospect of sleep became a distant one.

The walls were stained with multiple substances that Hidan wasn't sure he wanted to identify. The only stain he could recognize were the faded dark red splotches that he knew well enough to be blood. The curtains that were at one point some sort of light color were now a dark, dirty brown color, and the floor was coated thickly with dust, grime, and more of the blood stains.

Shuddering, Hidan looked over at the beds where Kakuzu was currently at, and judging by the disgusted look on his face, they were no cleaner.

When the miser turned and headed for the door, Hidan quickly followed him, trying not to gag after getting a look at the mattresses. "Where are you going?"

"I'm getting a refund, then we're leaving."

Kakuzu didn't pay any mind to the receptionist's attempt to ask what was wrong as he approached the desk, and without hesitation, the Falls nin grabbed the man and slammed his head against the desk. Hidan made a bit of a face at the sound of his skull cracking and the thud his body made when it hit the floor. Completely indifferent about the fact he'd just ended some poor bastard's life, Kakuzu expertly broke into the cash register and emptied it of it's contents, then turned and walked straight out the door as if nothing had happened.

Exasperated, Hidan followed his teammate out of the building and down the darkened sidewalk, irritated they probably wouldn't get to sleep for at least another two hours, and still revolted by the memory of the broken down, filthy motel room.

As they headed toward the town's exit. they were both well aware of the movement in the alleys around them, though neither addressed it. Outwardly, they looked completely oblivious, but inside, they were both entirely ready for an assault, able to jump flawlessly into battle at the smallest flash of movement. When you join an organization like the Akatsuki, it was something that was ground into your mind, body, and soul.

Eventually the sounds of their followers faded. Hidan noted that Kakuzu still remained alert however, and followed his example, keeping a close eye on his surroundings, and keeping his hearing and mind focused behind him and into the pitch black alleys.

The silence continues for several minutes until it was suddenly shattered by a piercing scream somewhere to his left, and Hidan froze momentarily before turning to look into the deep shadows that clung to the stone walls of the narrow street.

"It's none of our concern." Kakuzu said, already able to ready Hidan's intentions of seeing what the commotion was about.

Instead of listening as most others would to the warning tone of the taller shinobi's words, the priest wandered off in the direction of the high pitched scream, leaving Kakuzu to follow him in irritation.

Upon arriving at the source of the pained, fearful sound, Hidan remained careful to be silent and stick to the shadows just until he saw what they'd be dealing with. Kakuzu was inwardly surprised. Caution was not an act Hidan commonly practiced.

The Steam nin stared at the group of 5 civilians who'd just ruthlessly slaughtered three children for their minuscule food supply, which they had started fighting amongst themselves over like a pack of feral dogs. None of the three had been above the age of 10.

 _Humans in their most raw and basic form... With nothing but need, instinct, hunger, and desire driving them... They've gone insane.._. Kakuzu reflected silently to himself.

Hidan's mind was blank. He could only stare numbly at the pure evil that was the scene in front of him. Three innocents were dead. They're deaths had been painful, he could tell from the jagged gashes in their tattered clothes. He found himself relieved to not recognize the two boys from earlier, though he wasn't aware of the feeling yet. These children's lives hadn't been valued or even considered when taken. There was no good in this act, no God, only a selfish desire for one's own well being. They weren't even sharing the stolen food, they were fighting to the death for it. There would have been a cruel justice to the murder if they had at least done it for the good of their group. But there was no alliance past the act of the murder; that mutual agreement to work together to take the life-giving substance had ended when the souls of the children had drained out of their weak, nutrition-deprived bodies with their blood.

A red haze filled Hidan's mind at the witness of such a high degree of sin these heathens had committed. These souls would be just fine to send to Jashin. They would repent in the depths of Hell for such blasphemy.

Hidan reached for his scythe and lunged blindly at them from the shadows, catching them off guard. He wouldn't perform his ritual on them; they didn't deserve to witness such a blessing from Jashin. He easily slashed the first three's throats before they even knew what happened, the swing of his large weapon so violent that two of their heads were severed completely from their bodies, and the last one's only hung on by a thin strip of tendon and cartilage. The last two had recovered by then and made a desperate run for their lives, but Hidan made use of his scythe's cable. The weapon flew toward them and with expert control, Hidan had the deadly blades bury themselves deep into the one's stomach before twisting the cable and freeing it from the corpse, only for it to arc through the air as if it had a mind of it's own and shred through the last person's back, no doubt breaking their spine and spinal cord.

Satisfied that now they would be under Jashin's judgement, Hidan retracted his scythe and attached it onto his back once more.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Kakuzu asked boredly from his spot in the mouth of the alley.

Hidan cast one more look at the children's wasted corpses and murmured a quick prayer before turning back to his partner and nodding. "Yeah."

As Kakuzu lead the way back to the main street, he said, "Are you going soft or something?"

"What? No. Why the hell do you ask?"

"First you waste your time on those two children, and now here as well..."

"They're innocents. I was just doing the right thing, nothing more. Those two were going to die of starvation and those three deserved prayers so they could get favor when they meet God. I'm just doing my job as a priest of Jashinism. Just because it's central teaching is slaughter and destruction doesn't mean that's all it's about. It's more complicated than you would know." Hidan retorted. "And it certainly wasn't a waste of my time."

"Yes it was. There's nothing you could have given those two that will last more than a week... Food, money, prayers, nothing will save them. And there's no such thing as God."

Hidan glared at him. "You wouldn't know the first thing about religion, you damned atheist. So don't talk like you know anything about Jashin, got it bastard?" The little boy's smile flashed in his mind's eye again. "And you're wrong, seriously... It's not always about the objects you give, it's about the hope that comes with them! Maybe the food won't last more than a week, but that act of kindness will. It'll last as long as the memory will, and that can be a lifetime. I did give them something worth the time, and even if they do die young, they'll go to Heaven because I'll be sure to pray for them. Jashin won't damn them to Hell, I'm sure."

"Hope? You really do believe in complete bullshit..." He continued before Hidan could object to that. "Hope will do nothing in a twisted world like this. And even if Heaven and Hell are real, they'll go to Hell, just like everyone else. I'm sure they've stolen before, and that's a crime."

Hidan shook his head. "Children are innocent, in all but a few rare cases. And what sins they do commit are usual not their fault or they don't even understand what's wrong about them. And even if they stole, they were clearly siblings or close friends. They did it for each other and to have a chance at living! They hadn't gone crazy like those adults, they still had human qualities. There's no sin in doing what's necessary to live and keep others alive. Living isn't a sin!"

"But it is a crime." Kakuzu growled back, catching the silver haired man off guard at the anger in his voice.

"What are you talking about..?"

Kakuzu turned on him and glared. "The reason I became a missing nin in the first place was because I failed an assassination on the First Hokage alone and after returning just barely with my life, I was thrown in prison. All because I abandoned a hopeless mission that was far too difficult for me to accomplish on my own in the first place. It wasn't just that I had failed the mission, it was because I hadn't chosen to throw away my life in an impossible attempt to complete it."

Hidan avoided eye contact with him, suppressing the urge to wince at that. Kakuzu had never told him anything about his past or as personal as that before. Upon being teamed up, they had made a silent agreement not to ask each other anything personal and they made no attempt to befriend each other. Nothing ever went passed simple tolerance between them, and sometimes even that peace was difficult to maintain. But, the rules of the villages really were twisted and corrupt, and this was a prime example of that.

"That's why I don't follow the laws... The ones who make and enforce them have no respect or caring for me or anyone else as an individual, so I don't give them any respect back. I don't give a shit about this world and the rules some random person who made it to power through pure chance and luck of being able to get stronger than the rest of their peers and village. That's why I follow the religion of Jashinism. I still want guidelines to live by and model myself after so I know what to work toward, but I want it to be from someone who matters. Who matters more than God? Sure as fuck not any of those Kage bastards."

The Falls nin stayed silent for a moment, then turned and started walking again. "Come one.. It's late and I can see the village gate... I don't need to hear any more of your damned religious preaching tonight..."

Hidan relented and closed his mouth, not feeling much like talking to him at the moment himself.

The road just outside the village sloped up steadily into a high hill before flattening out again. At the crest of the hill, Hidan stopped and looked back at the ruins of what might have once been a beautiful town. He took the time to grip his rosary in his hand and raise it to his mouth, quietly whispering a short prayer for the two little boys, then turned and followed Kakuzu off the trail to find a camp site for the night that was already half over now.

He settled down under a tree across the clearing of the sparsely wooded area Kakuzu had picked out for their stay, though found sleep to be eluding him as his thoughts were still full of the day's events.

Little did he know, an hour earlier the two boys had fled the remains of their village. The food giving them fuel, and the hope giving them the strength and courage they'd needed to leave that accursed place. They would not die that day, nor for many days to come, and neither were to forget that act of kindness, even if it was only out of pity and the feel of having the need to in order to keep with one's religion.

Kindness is kindness, no matter the reason, and it goes a long way in the hearts of both the giver and the receiver.

After all, no act of kindness is _ever_ wasted, no matter how small and insignificant it may seem at first glance.


End file.
